Mario is famous for many things, including saving princesses, throwing parties, and even organizing fighting tournaments. However, one of his talents that rarely gets mentioned is his plumbing, a skill relegated to moments of the hilariously bad cartoon that ate up my youth. Droplitz lets you delve into that aspect of the big M’s life, putting you in charge of a series of interconnected pipes that need to be organized. While Droplitz may not sound that exciting, its addictive brand of puzzle action might just keep you coming back for more. 

Droplitz is a game of redirection, as your job is to guide the water droplets that flow from the dropper at the top of the screen into one of the collectors at the bottom. After falling from the dropper, the water seeps through a number of interwoven pipes, each of which is sectioned off into movable panels. Your job is to twist the pipe panels to successfully create a funnel from the droppers to the collectors, so that the water will flow smoothly from top to bottom. All of the pipes that you used become locked once you make a connection, forcing you to utilize whatever pipes are left on the game board to connect the rest of the droppers. Once enough water has been collected, that level will be cleared, those pipes will vanish, and a new set of randomized tubes will drop onto the screen for you to start the process all over again.  

As simplistic as it sounds, Droplitz is actually pretty tough to get the hang of. There are a handful of different pipe patterns, with each branching off in specific directions. Some pipes are X-shaped--which allows you to link to them from nearly any direction--while others are C shaped—which forces you to flow the water at them from a certain angle. This makes it tough to get everything linked properly, as you have to deal with the pipe pieces that you are given and somehow make the connection work. You also want to be careful when completing a path, as you might use up too many of the on-screen pipes and not have a way to connect the remaining droppers and collectors. It also doesn’t help that the game moves very quickly, with drops hitting the tubes every few seconds. If you fail at connecting the drip points to the buckets in a set amount time, you will run out of water and lose the game. 

Once you get used to the nonstop pipe rotations, you will find a lot to like about Droplitz. There are plenty of different nuances to the gameplay, as drops will split off into multiple paths when they hit a multi-exit pipe. Following all of these trails of water requires constant attention, yet you will enjoy planning out the perfect route for the everlasting flow once you get used to it. You will also have to develop a strategy for each situation, especially later on when the ante gets upped. You start out with two droppers and three collectors on-screen, yet more advanced levels will throw three times as many of each at you. The learning curve of Droplitz is a bit steep at first, but you will find yourself easing into it after a few rounds. 

Getting a certain amount of points in each level will unlock new areas, themes, or features for the game, a goal that will drive you to keep trying despite many agonizing failures. While you will have to face an increased dripping speed and more on-screen droppers and collectors, the gameplay doesn’t really evolve too much as you go along. Some variety comes from the additional modes that you can unlock, such as Zendurance, Power-Up and Infection. Zendurance challenges you with staying alive as long as you can in one area, Power-up allows you to gain special abilities to make your pipe-swapping efforts smoother, and Infection poisons certain pieces of the board and forces you to come up with new strategies. These differences help freshen up the gameplay as you get several hours in, and the fact that they have to be unlocked gives you something meaningful to work towards. Surprisingly, no multiplayer options were included, which definitely limits the appeal of this $10 puzzler. 

Droplitz is pleasant to look at, but doesn’t really have much style to it. The visuals are loaded with neon colors and sparkly effects, but there is nothing defining about them. The game lacks a distinctive personality, looking almost like a flash game at times. This generic-feel drips into the audio design as well, which is mostly made up of unmemorable mood music and techno that is only there to fill the void.  

Overall, Droplitz might not be the most memorable game on XBLA and PSN, but it does offer a lot of high-speed, pipe-turning excitement that can get very addictive. Those looking for a downloadable puzzler that doesn’t involve matching jewel types or stacking blocks should give this one a shot, but don’t expect to be overwhelmed by variety or have a lot of options to play around with.  

Gameplay: 7
The gameplay of Droplitz is simplistic, but will keep you coming back for more thanks to its fast-paced pipe-turning action and an overabundance of unlockables.  

Graphics: 6 
While the visuals are bright, clean, and full of color, Droplitz lacks any semblance of a personality and there isn’t much variety between levels and modes.

Sound: 6
The music of Droplitz is mostly there as background filler, with your typical jumpy techno beats and generic pop sounds. Sound effects relay the dripping well enough.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Like many other puzzles of this type, Droplitz starts off easy and gets incredibly hectic over time. The game doesn’t let you unlock new modes and levels until you hit certain scores, forcing you to master the mechanics quickly and get better as you play.

Concept: 7 
Droplitz combines the block rotation of Bejewled with the connection aspect of Pipe Dreams. While not the most original idea, this amalgamation ends up being solid fun to play around with.

Overall: 6.7
What Droplitz lacks in personality and originality, it makes up for in fun, addictive gameplay. Unfortunately, bit of repetition and a lack of multiplayer keep this one from dropping into must-have territory.